We are living in Germany now (eu nationals) and my husband has been offered work in Finland. It's a 50% job and his employer is quite happy for him to work a lot from home. So we would basically like to stay living in Germany, with him spending some time in Finland, but doing the bulk of his work from 'home'.

There is a condition by the Finnish agency funding his project ( not the same as his employer) that he is resident in Finland to be allowed to receive this funding, I.e. his salary. We have no problem paying taxes etc, but would really not like him to have to be away for six whole months each year!

Does anyone know about residence rules, whether he needs to be physically present in Finland for six months, how or whether this is checked? And would he ever be considered resident if the rest of the family lives elsewhere?

There is probably some domicile-residency fine print here, but I can't work it out...

When are you considered a resident? Six months per year?

zastler wrote:
We are living in Germany now (eu nationals) and my husband has been offered work in Finland. It's a 50% job and his employer is quite happy for him to work a lot from home. So we would basically like to stay living in Germany, with him spending some time in Finland, but doing the bulk of his work from 'home'.

There is a condition by the Finnish agency funding his project ( not the same as his employer) that he is resident in Finland to be allowed to receive this funding, I.e. his salary. We have no problem paying taxes etc, but would really not like him to have to be away for six whole months each year!

Does anyone know about residence rules, whether he needs to be physically present in Finland for six months, how or whether this is checked? And would he ever be considered resident if the rest of the family lives elsewhere?

There is probably some domicile-residency fine print here, but I can't work it out...

Because of family in Germany and under 6 months in Finland center of vital interest would most likely be Germany. It's quite logical from German point of view that it's hard to have family and main place of work there while paying taxes to Finland.

that makes sense. As the rest of the family lives in Germany I understand my husband could never be fully 'tax resident' in Finland, even if he did work there for more than 6 months. But pay tax for when he's physically present in Finland, and the rest to Germany.

Do you know if this also applies to Kela payments, or how that's arranged?

I assume we'll have to have a home for him in Finland, and that he would register with the maistraatti everytime he spends a block of time in Finland.

zastler wrote:
that makes sense. As the rest of the family lives in Germany I understand my husband could never be fully 'tax resident' in Finland, even if he did work there for more than 6 months. But pay tax for when he's physically present in Finland, and the rest to Germany.

Germany will also tax the income earned while physically in Finland if the German tax due is higher than the Finnish tax paid.

"The basic rule is that if you work in more than one EU country but do a substantial part of your work (at least 25%), in your country of residence, you'll be covered by the laws of your country of residence."

The European Health Insurance card would provide access to the Finnish health care system while in Finland.

zastler wrote:
I assume we'll have to have a home for him in Finland, and that he would register with the maistraatti everytime he spends a block of time in Finland.

The notification to Maistraatti can be done online on the posti website after the initial setup so it's not much of a problem.

The one problem that you need to solve is whether the Finnish employer is interested in taking care of German employer obligations or find out from German authorities if it's possible for the employee in this case to take care of them on behalf of the employer.

it is fairly clear which country is responsible for social security if you are employed in more than one country, ie. the over 25% rule. But my husband is not posted to Germany or has any kind of work based in Germany, he just works from home (home office). In this case the relevant German agencies all seem to think that Finland is definitely responsible. Can anyone verify this??

The Finish funder is suitably vague what residency means. We will have a Finish address and register on / off. I double check with maistraatti. In Germany there is a distinction between primary and secondary residence, maybe it is the same in Finland...